Dial A Hit DJ & Karaoke

If you're still undecided on where to hold your wedding reception, here's some suggestions on how to evaluate and select the right venue:

• Is it reasonably close to where you're holding the ceremony?
• Is it equipped to handle as large of a group as you're planning?  If you end up having to invite more people than initally planned, is there room to expand?
• If you're planning an outdoor reception, how stable is the ground?  (One of the things I remember from my own wedding was having my chair slowly sink into the ground while I tried to eat.)
• Is there enough space for dinner and dancing in the same room?  Having to move your guests from room to room disrupts the flow of the reception.

Historic homes are very beautiful, but they're not necessarily equipped with the right facilities for your reception.  Let's take two historic homes in Galveston: Ashton Villa and Moody Mansion.

Ashton Villa has set up a large banquet room that can easily accomodate a wedding party.  There's a kitchen for your caterer to use.  There's a small stage with plenty of power for the disc jockey.  There's ample space for dinner seating and a good sized dance floor.  The lights in the room can be dimmed.  This is an excellent place to hold a wedding reception, and the gazebo outside would be a great place for a ceremony.

Moody Mansion is a museum first and an event venue second.  Most of the space inside the mansion is roped off (including parts of the rooms that you will use) and your guests will be admonished frequently to not touch anything by the staff.  There's no kitchen for the caterer to use; all food will have to be prepared off-site and brought in.  There's not enough space to have dancing and dinner in the same room for a party larger than about 15 - 20, which means you will need to rent an additional room on a different floor to dance. Restrooms are on a different floor, accessible only by a steep, narrow stairwell.  Frankly, Moody Mansion should stick to being a museum.  That's what they do best.

Before you fall in love with a reception site, make sure that they can properly handle the size of your party!  Banquet halls and hotels may not have the history of an old mansion, but they have the right kitchen, electrical, and restroom facilities, and the rooms are built for the purpose that you will use them for, which will lead to a much smoother reception overall.